Now, before you actually pay attention to anything I say, note that I do not have any real experience, and have yet to work up a good load for a gun...in fact, I've only loaded about 30 rounds so far.
Regardless, I would argue that a chronograph, while nice, is not at all "loading blind". This depends on your desired final outcome of course, but it seems to me that shooting a tight group is always more desirable than shooting 100 or 200 FPS faster. Imagine two guys at the range, one that just shot a tight group, and one that just shot a lousy group. Is the guy with the lousy group really going to brag because he has 250 FPS over the guy with the nice tight group? I say, work up your load to find what is most accurate. If you really feel you need more speed, then you can always up the load a bit more (provided it's not a maximum charge, and also not showing pressure signs)...just know that you will give up some accuracy in doing so. Of course, if you can afford a chronograph right away, go ahead...I suspect they would be a lot of fun!
I would reccomend you check out my thread a while back, titled something along the lines of "Reloading Equipment For Beginners". Flash and Stretch provide much invaluable advice for a beginning reloader, and there are many, MANY pages on the discussion of equipment.
Good luck to you, and a word of warning...it seems likely you will not be able to find enough time, components, or even the justification of need to be able to reload as much as you will like to once you reload your first cartridge.
Edit - Since I see Stretch has posted as well now, I'd like to add something...he kind of sold me on Lee equipment, and for that I am eternally greatful. The Lee equipment is quite inexpensive, and now that I have actually used it and read up alot more about it, it just always seems to be a better and better deal to me. I highly reccomend the Lee equipment, though I would imagine you will not go wrong with any popular brand.